As I was confined to port in Newhaven for a few days, I decided to take the train and go home for a night, to check on things.

The trip home on Saturday was great: I haven't travelled any distance by train for ages, and I found I really enjoyed it. I suspect that not having a schedule of any sort helped me relax! The view from the train through Sussex was beautiful.

The return trip on Sunday was not so uneventful! Southwest Trains changed their minds three times about whether the first train would stop at Clapham Junction - only deciding it would after they'd shut the doors with me on the platform! Grrr! Their next train was going to stop there - until they changed their minds leaving me at Barnes waiting for a third train. To go two stops from home! Then, at Clapham, Southern had to go one better (or is that worse?) than Southwestern. Not only was the train I should be on cancelled, their information system told me there was no viable route to Newhaven - ever! Staff on the platform advised me to take the first train to Croydon and try from there. That turned out to be good advice: after only 4 minutes, I got a Thameslink to Brighton and thence easily to Newhaven.

I'm not sure now which is worse: travelling on the remains of British Rail, or trying to get a tide & wind combination to get from Newhaven to Dover...